About Us

Meet the Team

At ENIGMA, our people set us apart.

Our team is composed of some of the most enthusiastic, responsible, efficient, and knowledgeable professionals, all passionate experts in their area, with a remarkable motivation for service and devotion to going the extra mile to make the most of your visit to Peru. Adding to this is an extensive network of highly trained guides plus expert ambassadors working together to connect ENIGMA guests in innovative and meaningful ways with the unique people and places of Peru.

Our Office Staff

We are located out of the city center, in a cozy two-story house in a safe residential area that allows us more space and comfort to do our job better. The best way to get to our office is by taxi, in a seven-minute ride from the city center (standard taxi price in Cusco: 3-4 soles).

(*) Please note we have moved, as we were in Calle Garcilaso #210 before, and our old address is still coming up in some of the guidebooks, which recommend our services.

Please feel at home when you visit us. Our office staff will be willing to provide you with all information and help you may need. We are the following:

General Management and Administration

Our Guides

ENIGMA relies on an extensive network of highly trained guides and expert ambassadors as a premise to guarantee excellence in our services. We are fully conscious that an excellent guide is key to making your trip a memorable experience, which is why we are extremely demanding when recruiting and regularly training our guides.

Our team is composed of whom we consider to be the best guides in the region, all officially licensed and holding Tourism Degrees. The superiority of our team is backed both by excellent tourist reports, which are available at our office in Cusco and some online on this website, as well as by their expertise earned from several years of experience in leading a wide array of different guests and profiles.

Knowledge, leadership, enthusiasm, availability and help, communication skills, language proficiency, empathy and interpersonal skills, friendliness and sense of humor, punctuality and an excellent treatment to our team of chefs, porters and wranglers are a must. Our guests evaluate their guide after each service and your constructive critiques help us to keep improving constantly.

We have guides fluent in English and Spanish, but also in other languages, the most commonly requested being French, Italian and German. We will always consider the language as an integral part of the quality of the guided service, so when the language is beyond the scope of our guides, we can offer a translator.

Our team is also composed of specialized guides: bird watching, spiritualism, flora & fauna, archaeology, history, architecture, anthropology. These guides are not just available for specialized trips but have also been trained to run our treks and traditional programs, adding a wonderful value to their general knowledge and explanations.

Finally, more than 80% of our guides have now already been internationally trained in Advanced First Aid & Rescue, making this one of our most significant advantages of our guided services. Our team is regularly updated through seminars and courses in their respective fields.

Our Chefs

In all of our trekking trips, the chef ensures high-quality meals on time, and manages the team of porters.

An adequate diet both in its quality and quantity is essential in high-energy trips such as the adventure programs we run. ENIGMA has already become renowned for its outstanding menus and food quality. The secret lies in the careful selection of our team of chefs, whose top-quality restaurant background, creativity and passion for their jobs provide an unequalled touch to all of our meals. We do not have set menus since we wish to give our chefs the chance to create, innovate and surprise our clients through delicious dishes in every trip. For this, ENIGMA provides general guidelines, guest information on dietary restrictions and preferences and, most especially, the tools for a constant updating of our cooks’ knowledge in both Peruvian and International cuisine through specialization courses and training undergone during February, when most trekking operations cease due to the rains.

Additionally, the chef manages the team of porters and/or wranglers. Every person has a role in the team and is very aware of the team’s responsibility, and only excellent logistics will allow for an outstanding trip.

Our Porters and Horsemen

Porters and horsemen are an essential element in any trekking organization.

The porters carry all the collective equipment; some depart early before the group to make sure we get a good location at the campsite and to have everything ready and set up by the time you get to the lunch spot or campsite. Porters carry up to 20kg of load according to the Inca Trail regulation, which we fully respect by giving them a maximum of just 18kg each. In all treks other than the Inca Trail, wranglers are in charge of the horses or mules that carry the equipment.

ENIGMA has become renowned among agencies for treating our porters with care and respect. Our porters are not numbers; they are our friends. We provide our team with excellent meals along the route, convenient accommodation, equipment, life and medical insurance and, most importantly, with a never-delayed high wage that we believe they totally deserve. Unlike other agencies and despite providing our porters with working clothes for their trekking activity, we have chosen to not force our team to wear uniforms. We respect each individual’s choice.

This is why you may be able to perceive the difference between our team and others: our people are happy, enthusiastic, extremely helpful and simply exceptional. They are self-confident and we extremely value and trust their criteria. They are proud of working for ENIGMA and of their absolutely outstanding working performance. And we are also very proud of having them with us. Our porters are always welcome at our office and if you ever drop by you are sure to meet some of them visiting with us.

By working with Andean communities, we also help integrate their inhabitants into the tourism activity in a responsible way. The porters’ communities we work with are the following:

PAMPALLACTA and ACCHAHUATA – District of CALCA

CHUMPI – District of LAMAY

LARES – District of LARES

QENQO – District of QOYA

Our Transportation Service

All the buses, vans and cars used in our services are fully reliable and comply with Peruvian safety and insurance regulations.

The transportation service assigned to each trip is adapted to the route and the group size. The vehicles used range from station wagons and 4WD, for short transfers and a maximum of 2 people in the group, to vans for middle-sized groups or buses for larger groups and longer routes.